Part I of a series on updating middle-aged homes
 |
Picking the right color for a hallway, Hentz says, can make an entryway seem more welcoming. (Photos by Lisa Aciukewicz)
|
 |
Builders—and carpenters who longed to be builders—took advantage of the housing boom that surged in the 1980s in this area. Houses quickly cropped up that offered spacious rooms with lots of storage while retaining the footprint of a typical New England home. Because of the building boom, though, character and charm were often missing in this new generation of homes. Supply and demand sometimes offset the need for charm with cookie-cutter floor plans and stock builder’s options to make these homes saleable. In the last 30 years, however, many of these homes have changed hands, and the new owners would like to install some charm.
This week’s decorating dilemma is one of those 1980s houses. The home offers spaciousness in the public living areas, but lacks character and architectural detail. The homeowner is looking for something in keeping with the architecture of this Harvard Cape, yet she would like something a bit more updated and sophisticated. The homeowner’s decorating style is a transitional one. It is neither traditional nor contemporary, yet one that combines the two. Comfort, clean lines, and simplicity abound. A punch of red in the carpets and artwork adds warmth and interest to this home.
To begin the makeover, our homeowner would like to redo her front hallway. It is long, high, and narrow, and papered in a country-style wallpaper of small fleurs-de-lis on a white background.
The simple solution, of course, is to replace the wallpaper with something more contemporary. I would recommend a subtle, wide, formal, textured stripe. The stripe will lead the eye upward, giving the low downstairs ceiling some height. Wallpaper also adds a feeling of softness, if done in a tone-on-tone texture in beige or celadon. For those readers not fond of stripes, no matter how subtle, a faux painting design on the wallpaper fulfills that simple yet depth-defining wallpaper strategy.
My suggestion to this homeowner is to use paint and moulding to create the formality and the depth of color that invites a guest to enter. My homeowner wants to use a deep shade of gray that complements the wall color used throughout most of the home. Gray, used on a home situated close to the road, as in many antique homes, gives visitors the sense that the home is further back from the road than it is in reality. The medium-toned gray in the hallway would have the same kind of visual impact by giving a visitor the feeling that there is more space between walls than really exists.
In addition, I recommend exchanging the sliding, six-panel closet doors for French doors. French doors that open out have a much more formal and romantic appeal, and would be a quality upgrade for the home.
The homeowner would also like to change the front door. For this particular Cape-style home, I recommend simplicity: a wood cottage door with three raised panels that are three-fourths of the door height, with double-tiered paned windows above. It gives light while conveying a feeling of simplicity and high quality. Doors like this are available at Moore’s, Littleton Lumber, or Concord Lumber. Further afield, my favorite door vendor is Dorchester Window and Door. In addition, there is also Rivco, in Nashua, for readers going north.
Another option is the MDF door. MDF is a solid manufactured material. The door will have weight as well as soundproofing capabilities. MDF doors are manufactured in a variety of styles, but I recommend a high-quality door knob for all of them. Whether the door is expensive or inexpensive doesn’t matter a great deal, as most people do not touch the door. They do, however, touch the knob. If the doorknob has a nice finish and some weight to it, everything else in your home seems to have a higher quality. Keep this in mind when deciding on hardware.
Do you have a decorating dilemma? Ask the Decorating Diva for help with a design problem. Send a short description of the problem to features@harvardpress.com. Design difficulties will be chosen at the discretion of the Diva. The Decorating Diva is Anne Hentz, an interior decorator who lives in Harvard.